PEACE ON THE ROAD
Stark Contrasts
May 15, 2008
One of the things that I do while I am traveling around is to try to imagine what life would have been a hundred or two hundred years ago in the particular area where I happen to be. The fact that I am sure that I fail in every respect does not stop my imagination from trying. Every once in a while I get a small insight into the lives of people in the past. Usually that happens unexpectedly.
When we have been in Tombstone there has always been the question of why Wyatt Earp (or anybody for that matter) went there in the first place. The town is located out in a area that barely has enough green to feed anything. In fact the one jack rabbit that we saw was carrying a canteen and a lunch box. It turns out that Earp went there to establish a freight/stage line in the silver boom town, but found that there were already two companies when he arrived. Wyatt and his brothers staked mining claims and worked at various jobs, for three months he was a deputy sheriff for Pima county which includes Tombstone. Wyatt Earp is very famous for events that happened at the OK Corral in Tombstone, AZ. He is also known as a marshal in Dodge City, KS and Wichita, KS. These events in his life occurred over a period of about five years of his life. Most of his career was spent as a saloon keeper and a mining investor or mine operator. In 1906 he and his wife staked claims for gold and copper mines in the community of Drennan, CA. They spent the winters for the next two decades working his claims. When Wyatt Earp died in 1929 the community renamed itself "Earp" to honor him. I still wonder how people managed to eek out a living in that country.
The saguaro to me is one of natures very amazing creations. To look at a plant and have a feeling that it is somehow intelligent and has a purpose that is beyond just surviving is a real stretch of the imagination. But when I see a hillside that is populated with hundreds of plants that look like they are marching down the slope like an army it is hard to think of them as simply plants. The saguaro very often begins life in a location where it is sheltered by a "nurse plant" which protects it from the extreme temperature differences when it is small. Once established it grows about an inch per year. At seventy five to a hundred years it starts putting out the characteristic arms. It is only at the ends of those arms that it produces flowers which are pollinated by bees, bats and possibly doves. The flowers look so delicate and yet they are growing on a plant that is anything but delicate to those that might get careless around it.
Every place that we have been has had beautiful sunsets. But somehow seeing a sunset that silhouettes a saguaro is extra special. In a way it seems to define Arizona. It is amazing to me that one area of the desert can be covered so very thickly with barrel cactus, chollo cactus, ocotillo, and many other varieties of cactus and a mile away there seems to be no cactus at all. The contrast between the two area has to be caused by a combination of soil type, precipitation amount and other factors. Something that I did not know is that cactus are native only to North and South America and the West Indies. There is one cactus in Africa that is believed to have originated in the Americas about 10,000 years ago. The prickly pear cactus was taken to Australia in the 19th century to provide natural living fences and it adapted so well that it has made thousands of square miles of farmland unproductive.
We just left Ehrenburg, AZ, about three miles or so from Blythe, CA. The Colorado river was only about a hundred yards to the rear of our motor home. When we went in there the people that checked us in seemed to be so pleased that we would be close to the river and have a beautiful view. I will agree that the view of the river was special. All we had to do was go outside and walk to the back of the motor home. The river was a surprisingly blue color. The water was so clear that the bottom of the river was very easy to see. On the weekend there have been several watercraft that have been using the river. It would be nice to watch the water run by and watch the boats but there is a problem. All the sites are back in, so for a motor home that means that the large windows for looking out are pointed away from the river because our main window is the windshield. If we had a fifth wheel the back of the trailer would be a large window and we could sit and watch the river and it's activity. I have found it humorous that so many place are so proud of their views and then set up the sites so that many of the guests cannot see the view. There is a lot of irrigated land along the Colorado River. The irrigated land is so green and right across the road where there is no irrigation is land that only is growing sage brush and cactus. The contrast between the two is so stark that it is hard to believe. It really shows how the addition of water can transform the landscape. In the trip that we took through the area I believe that I saw more alfalfa growing and in huge bales than I have seen in my total collective life. I never dreamed that Arizona and California produced as much hay as it obviously does.
I grew up being familiar with prickly pear cactus having yellow blooms and many short spines. Here red, pink, purple, and yellow blooms can be found with any thing from almost no spines to spines almost like hair in abundance. The desert is a harsh environment where the plants have developed ways to protect themselves and on the other hand the desert animals have learned to utilize those protective devices for themselves. A lot birds seem to nest in the saguaro and in other thorny growth. In looking at some of the nests I can believe that no predator would even consider trying to get past the thorns to make a meal of the eggs or the young birds. Also there is a bird that will catch insects and uses the cactus as a cache for its catch like we would use a pantry.
We left an area where we were surrounded by desert, at 95-98 degrees every day with barely a cloud in the sky. Now we are up in the mountains above Los Angeles where for two days the temp has been 51 degrees, with thick fog during the day and night. This is such a stark contrast to that which we have been experiencing for several weeks. That is part of the reason to travel I guess.
Till later this is Doug of
Peace On The Road
Stark Contrasts
May 15, 2008
One of the things that I do while I am traveling around is to try to imagine what life would have been a hundred or two hundred years ago in the particular area where I happen to be. The fact that I am sure that I fail in every respect does not stop my imagination from trying. Every once in a while I get a small insight into the lives of people in the past. Usually that happens unexpectedly.
When we have been in Tombstone there has always been the question of why Wyatt Earp (or anybody for that matter) went there in the first place. The town is located out in a area that barely has enough green to feed anything. In fact the one jack rabbit that we saw was carrying a canteen and a lunch box. It turns out that Earp went there to establish a freight/stage line in the silver boom town, but found that there were already two companies when he arrived. Wyatt and his brothers staked mining claims and worked at various jobs, for three months he was a deputy sheriff for Pima county which includes Tombstone. Wyatt Earp is very famous for events that happened at the OK Corral in Tombstone, AZ. He is also known as a marshal in Dodge City, KS and Wichita, KS. These events in his life occurred over a period of about five years of his life. Most of his career was spent as a saloon keeper and a mining investor or mine operator. In 1906 he and his wife staked claims for gold and copper mines in the community of Drennan, CA. They spent the winters for the next two decades working his claims. When Wyatt Earp died in 1929 the community renamed itself "Earp" to honor him. I still wonder how people managed to eek out a living in that country.
BLOOMING SAGUARO NEAR CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA
The saguaro to me is one of natures very amazing creations. To look at a plant and have a feeling that it is somehow intelligent and has a purpose that is beyond just surviving is a real stretch of the imagination. But when I see a hillside that is populated with hundreds of plants that look like they are marching down the slope like an army it is hard to think of them as simply plants. The saguaro very often begins life in a location where it is sheltered by a "nurse plant" which protects it from the extreme temperature differences when it is small. Once established it grows about an inch per year. At seventy five to a hundred years it starts putting out the characteristic arms. It is only at the ends of those arms that it produces flowers which are pollinated by bees, bats and possibly doves. The flowers look so delicate and yet they are growing on a plant that is anything but delicate to those that might get careless around it.
ARIZONA SUNSET
Every place that we have been has had beautiful sunsets. But somehow seeing a sunset that silhouettes a saguaro is extra special. In a way it seems to define Arizona. It is amazing to me that one area of the desert can be covered so very thickly with barrel cactus, chollo cactus, ocotillo, and many other varieties of cactus and a mile away there seems to be no cactus at all. The contrast between the two area has to be caused by a combination of soil type, precipitation amount and other factors. Something that I did not know is that cactus are native only to North and South America and the West Indies. There is one cactus in Africa that is believed to have originated in the Americas about 10,000 years ago. The prickly pear cactus was taken to Australia in the 19th century to provide natural living fences and it adapted so well that it has made thousands of square miles of farmland unproductive.
We just left Ehrenburg, AZ, about three miles or so from Blythe, CA. The Colorado river was only about a hundred yards to the rear of our motor home. When we went in there the people that checked us in seemed to be so pleased that we would be close to the river and have a beautiful view. I will agree that the view of the river was special. All we had to do was go outside and walk to the back of the motor home. The river was a surprisingly blue color. The water was so clear that the bottom of the river was very easy to see. On the weekend there have been several watercraft that have been using the river. It would be nice to watch the water run by and watch the boats but there is a problem. All the sites are back in, so for a motor home that means that the large windows for looking out are pointed away from the river because our main window is the windshield. If we had a fifth wheel the back of the trailer would be a large window and we could sit and watch the river and it's activity. I have found it humorous that so many place are so proud of their views and then set up the sites so that many of the guests cannot see the view. There is a lot of irrigated land along the Colorado River. The irrigated land is so green and right across the road where there is no irrigation is land that only is growing sage brush and cactus. The contrast between the two is so stark that it is hard to believe. It really shows how the addition of water can transform the landscape. In the trip that we took through the area I believe that I saw more alfalfa growing and in huge bales than I have seen in my total collective life. I never dreamed that Arizona and California produced as much hay as it obviously does.
BLOSSOMS ON ONE OF THE MANY VARIETIES OF PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS
I grew up being familiar with prickly pear cactus having yellow blooms and many short spines. Here red, pink, purple, and yellow blooms can be found with any thing from almost no spines to spines almost like hair in abundance. The desert is a harsh environment where the plants have developed ways to protect themselves and on the other hand the desert animals have learned to utilize those protective devices for themselves. A lot birds seem to nest in the saguaro and in other thorny growth. In looking at some of the nests I can believe that no predator would even consider trying to get past the thorns to make a meal of the eggs or the young birds. Also there is a bird that will catch insects and uses the cactus as a cache for its catch like we would use a pantry.
We left an area where we were surrounded by desert, at 95-98 degrees every day with barely a cloud in the sky. Now we are up in the mountains above Los Angeles where for two days the temp has been 51 degrees, with thick fog during the day and night. This is such a stark contrast to that which we have been experiencing for several weeks. That is part of the reason to travel I guess.
Till later this is Doug of
Peace On The Road
No comments:
Post a Comment